album review

Metal is not known for its beauty. It can be many things, beautiful included, but if there is one thing metal is known for, it's stringy-haired heaviness. Metal is not the music of the beautiful people, and we wouldn't love it so much if it was.

Falling in Reverse potentially confirms the small epiphany I had while watching Motionless in White live at Mayhem Fest. Scary though it may seem, perhaps this is a glimpse of one possible future of heavy metal.

Life experience, viewed through a sort of existentialist paradigm, is an extremely persistent animal. There are certain lessons that life seems bound and determined to teach us, no matter how many times we attempt to ignore the moral.

Why are some musicians vagabonds, jumping from project to project in a constant state of motion? There's a cynical answer about the undying desire to find the band that will break through and bring fame and fortune, but for most it has to do with a need to make music.

The role and mindset of a journalist is different depending on who you ask. The traditional definition maintains that journalists are supposed to be objective, meaning they should write without the perception of bias.

I've wanted to love Sinister Realm from the first moment I knew of their existence. Somewhere along my travels around the metal universe, I was put on to their debut album, which immediately put me in the middle of my love/hate relationship with the band.

Unless you're one of the small number of people who are devout fans of power metal, the term tends to lead you towards the ludicrous. Power metal is an exercise in excess, the kind of metal that doesn't ask why it's so over the top, but rather asks why the top is so low.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a more influential band that got none of the attention they deserved than the one and only Trouble. In the American scene, Trouble is as much a part of the foundation of heavy metal as any other band.